David Cameron's former communications director Andy Coulson and the ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks have appeared at the Old Bailey on charges of illegal payments to public officials.

The pair appeared for a preliminary hearing on Thursday morning alongside the former News of the World royal correspondent Clive Goodman, the veteran Sun journalist John Kay and a Ministry of Defence official, Bettina Jordan-Barber.

Mr Justice Fulford ended the 15-minute hearing by ordering them to return to Southwark crown court for a plea and case management hearing on 8 March.

Brooks, Kay and Jordan-Barber face charges of conspiracy to pay approximately £100,000 for information that formed the basis of several news stories between 2004 and 2011.

Coulson and Goodman face two charges of conspiring to pay public officials for information, including a Buckingham Palace phone directory, known as the Green Book, that contained contact details for members of the royal family.

The five did not speak or sit in the dock for the short hearing in court one at the Old Bailey in central London.